“Maybe we’re still looking
That giant and safe beech,
in the snow in the woods
[…] which requires, with the branches extended,
a quiet thinking ”
(Gentile Polo, “To my son” in Pensieri … una strada in salita, Aletti Editore, Rome, 2017, p.91)
The snow, the forest, the tree … create the magical and evocative atmosphere of Christmas. We find them for example in The Chronicles of Narnia by Clive Staples Lewis as in the special episode of the famous British television series Doctor Who “The Doctor, the widow and the wardrobe” written by Steven Moffat in 2011.
The snow, the forest and the tree are elements that bring back to a magical time, to the age of childhood when everything is possible.
(Photo:”Sunny – 9 m.”, Gentile Polo, crayon)
In the collection “Pensieri … una strada in salita”(Thoughts … An uphill road) the snow, the forest and the tree bring the author Gentile Polo to the childhood of his son Francesco, when walking in the snowy forest they came to a large and reassuring tree, which inspired, despite the parental concerns, a positive feeling for the future.
If we read poetry as a dream, we could say that despite some difficult periods (snowy road – 85 and walking on snow – 41) the safe harbor of the tree presages positive changes in the long journey of life and family prosperity (tree – 65, tree robust – 38 and leafy – 3).
The tree has a positive connotation that we preserve in the tradition of the Christmas tree, symbol of life and hope:
“It symbolizes a conviction: the sin of man, in the Bible associated with the tree of Paradise and its fruit which arouses the temptation, is expiated on the night of 24th December with the entry of Christ into the world: symbol of this is the tree of life (Gn 2,9).
The Christmas tree inserted in the religious context of the festivals is therefore a sign of peace and hope. ”(from “Stories and reflections on the Christmas Tree”, santuariosantarosalia.it)
and good news (see meaning in the Neapolitan Smorfia tradition).
And it is no coincidence that the tree looks good on the cover of the poetic collection “Pensieri … una strada in salita”(Thoughts … An uphill road) by the artist Gentile Polo.
(Photo: Bark_02, Gentile Polo, 2017)
The book narrates a personal journey with the passions (the red of the watercolor) of a man and the difficulties of a family, an uphill road like the trunk of a tree.
The author confides in the reader and says that the uphill road should not scare because in each of us, as in a tree, flows the inextinguishable force of life and for how tortuous, unexpected and suffered can always be leading, before or then, to a new spring.
(Photo: “Tesino_2012”, Gentile Polo, crayon)
The very title “Pensieri … una strada in salita”(Thoughts … an uphill road) hides an allegorical meaning of hope:
the author, writing, returns to the event that occurred (plunge into thoughts – 9) to face the motions of the soul that upset and complicate the present (ordering ideas – 76 and communicating them – 54) with a tenacious will to live (lighten up) of thoughts – 10) that leads him to look to the future with renewed hope (way uphill – 70).
Hope and renewal are the same promises of winter, of a snow-covered forest, of a fable that in the end is life.
With this little detail, we wish you all the best
HAPPY HOLIDAYS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!
from all the staff of the Gentile Polo Art Studio.
https://www.amazon.it/Pensieri-strada-salita-Gentile-Polo/dp/8859147441
https://www.mondadoristore.it/Pensieri-Una-strada-in-salita-Gentile-Polo/eai978885914744/
http://www.studio-martorelli.net/category/polo-gentile/pubblicazioni-editoria/
https://www.libreriauniversitaria.it/pensieri-strada-salita-polo-gentile/libro/9788859147442
https://www.sanpaolostore.it/pensieri-strada-in-salita-gentile-polo-9788859150510.aspx
(Lucia Martorelli – Gentile Polo Art Studio)